Writers at the Convent - #3. Destinctive Debuts

My third session of the day was entitled "Destinctive Debuts" and the six authors who participated were a diverse mix.

"Do you want Sex with that?" by Claire Halliday

This book is part memoir, part investigation and considers the place of sex in Australian life.  What make's Claire's book different is that it considers the issues regarding sex in our society with reference to her own experiences.  The excerpt that she read from her book outlined, in uncomfortable detail, her own  negative experiences of sex as a young adult, and it made me shuffle in my seat not knowing where to look.  How sad her reading was.  Is this all our young girls have to look forward to?  I didn't really get a feel for her book from the reading, but have read reviews of it since. I am sure it would be very informative but I think that I want to keep my illusions about what happens out there a little bit longer.  "Too much information"  - as the saying goes.

"The Legacy" by Kirsten Tranter

Set in the world of art in New York, this mystery/thriller follows Julia's quest to find her friend, Ingrid, after she disappeared on September 11, 2001 - yes, 9/11.  As one review I have read said, 9/11 was a day when almost anything could happen.   Did Ingrid disappear or did something more sinister happen?  Although set in New York, the main characters are Australian, and the book is written by an Australian now living in New York.  To me this meant that the writing style had a bluntness to it, more in common with Australian fiction than that the American mystery/thriller writers that I am more accustomed to.  The book has had good reviews so I think I will put it on my "to-read" list for the future.

"Cooee" by Vivienne Kelly

Vivienne selected a scene from her book where the main character, Isobel, is having lunch with her reluctant son, Dominic, who resents that his mother left him when he was ten and just wants to get the lunch over with.  From the audience's response, I think a few could relate to the sense of defeat that Isobel felt as she tries to establish a relationship with her adult son.  I found the reading funny in a dark sort of way, but the book was not something that I will rush out and buy in the near future as I feel uncomfortable with this sort of humour and found the scene quite depressing.  If anyone has read this book, please let me know whether you liked it.

"Sold" by Brendan Gullifer

Now this reading the audience really enjoyed.  We were all chuckling as Brendan read about the happenings in a suburban real estate agency in Melbourne, much of which matched our stereotypical ideas.    If you want a laugh and you have sold or bought a house before then you may like to try this book.  It's readily availabe at Bayside Libraries as part of the Summer Reads programme.

"The Imperfectionists" by Tom Rachman

Set around the journalists and readers of an international newspaper in Rome, this book reveals that the real stories are not the headlines of the day but contained within the lives of a diverse grup of characters.  Tom read the tale of Lloyd, the aging Paris correspondent who struggles to sell his story ideas, hiding his lack of money from his wife, who is having an affair with the neighbour across the hall.  This struck a chord with me, and I wanted to know more.  "The Imperfectionists" reminded me of "Let the Great World Spin" which I read over the summer and really enjoyed, so I have added this to my mounting pile beside the bed.

"Hollywood Ending" by Kathy Charles

A crossover title between the adult and young adult genres, "Hollywood Ending" appears to be a very dark piece of work.  The story follows two teenagers obsessed with photographing the location of celebrity deaths in L.A, and their relationship with an elderly man with a past.  I can't say that I will be rushing out for this one.  It seems that the young people in our society have just as black a view of the world in their writing as I have found in the art I've seen at VCE Art on display at my sons' school.  It would be interesting to know what the young people at which the book is aimed think of it.